Tuesday, January 15, 2013

2nd Edition, January 15, 2013

It's hard to believe that Canyonland Press's first anniversary is February 1, 2013. The year has gone fast, we've experimented a bit, and hopefully we've grown. But we need your help. All of the editors work and/or write full time. We need your feedback to know whether this endeavor is something of value. So please take the survey on the right side of this article, be sure to answer all four questions. It will be up until January 17, please respond before then. Thank you for all of your support this year.


Winter Reading
What are you reading during the long winter months? The Canyonland Press editors are going to take the opportunity to give you some suggestions. And because our favorites are our own books...

Marie Higgins wants to know: Need something to read during these long winter months? Well, here in Utah, it’s been snowing like CRAZY! So there are a lot of people who snuggle and read by the fireplace instead going outside. I wish I could do that, but I don’t have a fireplace. However, I do love to snuggle…and I especially love to read. Here are a few books I suggest reading for these ‘snuggle / fireplace’ times.


Dreaming of You by Marie Higgins (short story)
What is a romance writer to do when her college crush is back in town, and realizes she wrote him in her first novel…and wants to sue? Read more about the story here - Amazon


Crazy for You by Marie Higgins (short story)
How can a crazy man proclaiming he’s from the future soften a woman’s heart when he needs her help the most? Read more about the story here - Amazon
Take My Heart by Marie Higgins (historical novel)
When Mercedes seeks revenge from her dead sister’s husband only to find he is not the beast her sister has portrayed, how can Mercedes keep from giving her heart to a man who is a spy? Read more about the story here - Amazon

 








Mary Martinez loves suspense: My favorite winter theme is edge of the seat. My Beckett Series does the trick. The third book will be out at the first of March. I think these will make you want to settle close to a fire.


The Beckett's have a strong sense of family and honor.
When one of their own is threatened, their bond is as strong as a badge of steel.

Disappear By Mary Martinez
After two years undercover as an FBI agent to infiltrate a crime organization and discover the identity of a hit man, Tyler Beckett’s cover is blown. Tyler’s new assignment is to protect the only witness who can identify the mysterious killer. Read more...

Innocent By Mary Martinez
All Jessica Beckett wants is a home and a family. So how did she suddenly find herself falsely accused of a felony and then kidnapped by a hit man? Read more...

 

Quiet By Mary Martinez
Christine Beckett’s dream of partnership in a prestigious New York City law firm has finally come to fruition. She has financial security, a loving family, and owns her home, why does she need a man? Read more...










Amy Durham recommends:
"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
Two teenagers dealing with a life and death situation with grace, humor, and love! This book made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, and made me feel. In Hazel and Gus's journey, you'll find nuggets of wisdom and beautiful romance... heartbreaking reality and the kind of dreaming that makes you believe anything is possible. HIGHLY recommended!



Once Again by Amy Durham

Reincarnation sucks! Unless it comes with a cute guy. That’s what sixteen year-old Layla Bradford discovers when she moves to Sky Cove, Maine, a small-town she thought was ordinary, but turns out to be an episode of “Cold Case” on steroids. Read More...




ONCE AND FOR ALL By Amy Durham (Coming Soon)
What happens when 180 pounds of football star collides with 105 pounds of art geek?

An ancient curse springs to life, of course.

Phoebe Campbell is anything but popular. Todd Miller is the epitome of the high school jock. Their socially opposite worlds collide when they are paired to work together on a project for art class. Attempting to cooperate for the sake of their assignment, Todd and Phoebe begin to look past preconceived notions and see each other for who they truly are. As genuine feelings begin to develop between them, they find themselves plagued by dangerous shape-shifting episodes and unexplained telepathic connections. Read More...



Anna Sugg suggests: Get comfortable in your favorite chair, grab a warm blanket, let your dog or cat cuddle up next to you and read a good book(s). Here’s some suggestions: Yellow Creek Novel Book One, Secret Past

Blurb: Sarah Shapiro searches through the ruins of her grandmother’s crumbling, deteriorating farmhouse and discovers, buried beneath the floor, a metal box and a Tommy gun. While trying to unravel the mystery of her grandmother’s secret past with the contents in the box, the Tommy gun disappears, her soon to be ex-husband is killed and how could she possibly fall in love with a deceiving contractor, who happens to have a wife.
This great read can be found on Amazon

If you’re still in the mood for some holiday reads, I have three Christmas stories on Amazon. I’d love to hear from you and don’t forget to write a review.
Anna Sugg on Amazon

Enjoy your winter reading with all our suggestions and please don’t forget to leave a review on all the books you read, or drop us a line and let us know which book you enjoy the most.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

1st Edition, January 1, 2013

It's hard to believe that Canyonland Press's first anniversary is February 1, 2013. The year has gone fast, we've experimented a bit, and hopefully we've grown. But we need your help. All of the editors work and/or write full time. We need your feedback to know whether this endeavor is something of value. So please take the survey on the right side of this article, be sure to answer all four questions. It will be up until January 17, please respond before then. Thank you for all of your support this year.

Madam Librarian Recommendation.
Elizabeth at Brigham City Library, recommends War Horse.
Elizabeth said that it's an older book but she never read it, and when the movie came out she decided she would read it. She said the book kept her enthralled and it's a very heart-warming story.

War Horse
By Michael Morpurgo
From his home page bio:
Michael Morpurgo is, in his own words, “oldish, married with three children, and a grandfather six times over.” Born in 1943, he attended schools in London, Sussex and Canterbury (one at least of which was horrible enough to inspire him to describe it obliquely in The Butterfly Lion). He went on to London University to study English and French, followed by a step into the teaching profession and a job in a primary school in Kent. It was there that he discovered what he wanted to do.

“We had to read the children a story every day and my lot were bored by the book I was reading. I decided I had to do something and told them the kind of story I used to tell my kids – it was like a soap opera, and they focused on it. I could see there was magic in it for them, and realised there was magic in it for me.” Read More here.

Blurb:
This number 1 bestselling book is the incredibly moving story of one horse’s experience in the deadly chaos of the First World War. In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the frontline. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey’s courage touches the soldiers around him.

What Can Mark Twain Tell Us
By: Amy Durham
We've all heard it before. "Dream big." "Never give up on your dreams." "If you can dream it, you can acheive it." All of these sayings are good reminders, but I think sometimes we hear them so much they lose their zing and pass into our ears and right back out again without affecting us at all.

Today's "Quotable Discussions" is all about dreaming. And for this post, I've turned my thoughts to Mark Twain. Years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, the first book I was assigned to read for my English class was "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" . I'd read a few books before, and had discovered that I kind of liked reading for pleasure. So, unlike most of my class, I wasn't turned off by this assignment. I rather enjoyed it! And because I had a time frame for reading the book, I discovered that I could read quickly and finish a book in no time!

Mark Twain himself was born an ordinary boy (Samuel Clemens) into an ordinary family in 1835. The son of a judge, he suffered poor health as a child, and though he eventually recovered enough to attend school, his father fell ill with pneumonia and died when Samuel was 12 years old. The following year, Samuel left school, choosing instead to become a printer's apprentice. Two years later, he joined his brother's newspaper, working as an editorial assistant, and discovered a love of writing that sparked one of literature's greatest.

Did Samuel Clemens know from the time he was a young child that he would become a famous author whose works would stand the test of time? Probably not. But that didn't stop him from becoming Mark Twain. I think the quote below reminds us not just to "dream big" and "never give up", but also to realize that even though we don't know what the future will hold, years from now it would be terribly disappointing to regret that we didn't try at all to achieve our dreams, and far better to know that we gave it our all.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Mark Twain

One of the things that attracts me most to Young Adult fiction (both reading it and writing it) is that it inspires that attitude. The young people reading YA fiction are at the age where nothing seems impossible and dreaming is encouraged. I love the thought that a book can plant, water, and nurture the seeds of dreaming and achievement in a young heart, and encourage readers to "catch the trade winds" in their sails, and "explore... dream... discover."